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Old Rivets In Philly

Product Description

“Old Rivets,” the famous Pennsy GG1 4800 engine thunders past the tower at North Philadelphia station. Built in 1934, the first GG1 had piled up an impressive record by her 25th birthday (in 1959). She had run a total of 2,795,517 miles and had used up electric energy costing $1,582,296 – more than 6 times the cost of the locomotive when new. In this winter scene, some Pennsy m.u. cars have stopped on neighboring rails to load new passengers. They have the typical round “owl eye” windows at the ends. During World War II years, idle m.u. trains were pressed into service over weekends to relieve congestion on through rails.

“Old Rivets” was the prototype for the GG1 and was the only one to have a riveted body frame -hence the name. It was formerly painted in Bicentennial colors and was the only GG1 to receive the Conrail blue color scheme. It has been on loan most recently to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pa.